Vladimir Zharikhin: Ukrainian "crisis spot" hindering the realization of the dream of a single European space serves the interests of United States

ArmInfo. The leadership of Ukraine wants through external pressure to win the war, which it lost in real action. This was stated by Deputy Director of the Institute
of CIS Countries Vladimir Zharikhin at a press conference in Yerevan
on October 11, commenting on the recent statement by Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelensky about Kiev's intentions and readiness to
return Crimea and Donbass.

"Volodymyr Zelensky disappointed me with his speech. Generally
speaking, both under former president Petro Poroshenko and under
Zelensky, the possible prospect of solving the existing problem is
considered either through more powerful Western pressure on Russia
and new sanctions, or through a change in the Russian leadership>,
remarked Zharikhin.

<If we imagine Ukraine, which by some miracle fulfilled the Minsk
agreements, it would rather be Ukraine, not Poroshnko or Zelensky,
but Kuchma's Ukraine in the late 1990s. That is, it would be a state
that is friends with both Russia and the EU, and with the presence of
conditional Lviv and conditional Donetsk within Ukraine, it will not
join the EAEU or NATO. Such a country should have been born if the
Minsk agreements were implemented, which would be in the interests of
both Russia (although Russia would like Ukraine to be part of our
economic space) and the countries of Western Europe>, the expert
noted.

Meanwhile, as noted, the interests of the United States have arisen
in this matter, which want a middle point in Europe to be a crisis
spot, which impedes the realization of the dream of a single European
space from Lisbon to Vladivostok. Zharikhin noted that a single
European space would be beneficial for Russia, including from the
point of view of accumulation of financial, intellectual and natural
resources with existing traffic flows.

Addressing the Ukrainian side, Zharikhin cited the example of Russia
and Chechnya, noting that for the sake of the integrity of the state
it is sometimes necessary to make extremely serious and painful
compromises. Meanwhile, according to the expert, the Ukrainian
authorities do not want to meet with the leadership of Donetsk and
Lugansk regions. At the same time, according to him, a similar
situation has developed in Georgia. "Georgia, in fact, is a federal
republic, but does not want to admit it>," he said.